So my name is Shawn Johnson East.
I competed in the 2008 Olympic Games as a gymnast,
and we are going to be talking
about exercise while pregnant today.
- Hey, y'all welcome back.
Mama Doctor Jones, OBGYN and mom to four.
Today is a super exciting day because we are talking
to Shawn Johnson about exercise in pregnancy.
I, for one I'm thrilled about this,
because as a former elite gymnast myself,
(laughs) I'm kidding.
I competed gymnastics as a junior high kid.
And of course I was nothing like
the amazing Olympic gold medal status of Shawn Johnson,
but for that reason
and many others, I am just so thrilled to chat
with her today about her experience being pregnant
as an athlete, if she got any backlash online
because that's something I see all the time
in people online who are elite athletes.
And just, if she has any questions for us about exercise
in pregnancy.
Before we jump into that interview,
I'm going to just talk a little bit about exercise
in pregnancy, general guidelines and information
for you all.
(bright upbeat music)
I am asked about exercising in pregnancy all the time.
I wanna go through some of the risks and benefits
of exercising while pregnant.
Let's start with the benefits.
Being active and exercising during pregnancy
has been shown to be associated with lots of great things
like reduced risk of gestational diabetes,
less pain and aches throughout the pregnancy,
a higher chance of having a vaginal delivery
and a lower chance of having a C-section, less hypertension
which is high blood pressure, and maybe even a lower risk
of postpartum and perinatal depression,
as well as just a general quicker recovery
after you've delivered your baby.
For these reasons, we recommend an exercise program
in pregnancy for almost every single patient.
Now, there are some reasons
that we would not recommend this.
For instance, if you have a high-risk pregnancy
because you have a placenta previa
or you've had bleeding throughout your pregnancy
or your doctor has said you are high-risk
for an extremely preterm delivery.
A lot of these are reasons that you may not want to exercise
in pregnancy, but this is very individual, and I would say,
as an OBGYN,
I rarely see someone who can't do any exercise
while they are pregnant.
Even patients who weren't doing an exercise program
before pregnancy, can talk with their doctor
about what is a safe way to implement exercise
and to carry that on throughout pregnancy and after.
So these are all good things, being active
in pregnancy is a good thing.
One of the more common questions I get, "Okay, well
what is okay and what is not okay?"
For the most part,
in people who are just normal day-to-day people,
as in not elite athletes like Shawn Johnson East,
you can pretty much do whatever you were doing
prior to pregnancy that doesn't cause you pain now.
You just need to listen to your body.
Your body will tell you what modifications that you need.
Your center of gravity is going to be altered
and so you have a little bit different balance.
The biggest thing is that,
actually the person who's pregnant
is at slightly increased risk of injury.
And so we just wanna be sure that we're taking
into account our changing bodies while we're exercising.
Does that make sense?
For specifics, if you have something you love to do
and you're not sure if it's okay to continue doing it,
I would talk to your doctor
because this is very individualized.
So the blanket recommendation is: exercise in pregnancy
in the absence of risk factors
which make you unable to exercise in pregnancy
is a good thing.
There are very few risks to standard exercise programs
and tons of benefits.
People can even continue running a lot of times
in pregnancy, up until the point where they feel
uncomfortable with that.
So the biggest thing here, like I've said already,
is listen to your body.
Warning signs that you need to modify or stop exercising
would be, if you're having consistent contractions,
of course if you had any bleeding
or you thought your water broke, dizziness, headache
chest pain, any of these things
you need to stop what you're doing
and talk to your doctor about what happened
and what kind of modifications you might need to make.
And now I am so excited to welcome Shawn Johnson East
to the channel to talk about exercise in pregnancy
as an elite athlete.
Shawn also just got over having COVID
while she was pregnant.
And we did a video on her channel answering some
of her viewers questions for me.
So after you watch this one hop on over and check hers out.
Thanks for being here today, Shawn.
Can you introduce yourself even though I'm sure that
everybody already knows who you are.
- Okay, my name is Shawn Johnson East.
I competed in the 2008 Olympic Games as a gymnast.
And we are going to be talking about exercise
while pregnant today.
- Yes, I'm so excited to talk to you
because this is something,
in my video just before we got on here,
I explained kind of the basics of exercise in pregnancy,
but I think that something I see a lot
is people who are pregnant and who are athletes,
especially elite athletes, or high-level athletes
get a lot of criticism online.
So I was interested if you had an experience like that
in your first pregnancy or for those who don't know,
you're currently pregnant now in this pregnancy.
- Yes, it's probably a daily thing.
I probably get criticism every day
for something that I've done physically, while pregnant
or even postpartum sometimes.
And I remember during my first pregnancy
it was kinda hard to digest just because
within my first pregnancy, I didn't know what was right.
I didn't know what was wrong.
I didn't know if I was doing too much.
You kinda just go by what your doctor's telling you.
And I knew I was following my parameters
based off my doctor, but with so much criticism,
it kinda makes you doubt.
So, with this pregnancy, I've been working out,
I've been following kind of my doctor's guidelines,
but yeah, we get a lot of criticism for it.
And I feel like people are very torn
as to whether they're pro exercise or not.
- It's really interesting because the medical community
is torn on a lot of things, but exercise in pregnancy
isn't one of them, we pretty much across the board say
this is a very beneficial thing.
There are huge benefits and almost no risks,
as long as you're not in a category who is
an unusual category, who shouldn't be working out,
which is pretty rare.
Do you mind sharing maybe an experience
of something someone said to you?
'Cause you bring up a really good point there, is like,
"I knew I was doing what my doctor told me,
I knew I felt good doing it,
but still these people that I don't know can creep in
and say things that really affect how I feel
or make me second guess what I'm doing."
So do you have any particular experience with that?
- Yeah, so I think the hardest thing for me,
for like what I personally had to kind of digest
and work through, was we miscarried two years before
we gave birth to my daughter.
And within that pregnancy with my daughter,
I knew I was following protocol of my doctor.
I was still working out.
I was still lifting weights.
I was still running, getting my heart rate decently high,
but nothing that I wasn't used to.
And I would do handstands.
I would flip on a trampoline,
all these things that my body was so comfortable with.
And I remember reading comments
and kind of getting backlash from people saying
that I was going to cause another miscarriage
and that I was going to be the reason I lost another baby
and I would cause harm to the baby and I would just,
it was all the things that I had to kind of work through.
It was all harm, intentionally caused to our child.
And I think the hardest part for me was trying to weigh
what I knew in my heart was right,
which was following my doctor's protocols,
knowing I was doing things the right way,
knowing my body felt good, in that doubt
that what if I could be doing something bad?
So I think that was the hardest part for me.
- I really hate that because it's so predatory.
It's so predatory for somebody to come online and say
either you caused something to happen last time
or you might this time,
when we know scientifically that there's no evidence
that miscarriages are caused by exercise.
None, we've looked at that.
And it makes me sick and I don't know if people do it
thinking they're actually doing something good
or if they're actually just horrible people,
but that is a terrible thing to tell somebody.
I'm sorry that you went through that.
I mean, having a miscarriage is
incredibly difficult as it is.
You don't need people weighing in with their
unsolicited opinion.
- I mean, I honestly truly feel like going
through the whole pregnancy process and then having a kid.
And I'm sure you go through this too.
It's just, I feel like people are so passionate
to protect children, which is such a beautiful thing
that it comes out aggressively.
And I think when you have to, like, if you take a step back
and you're like, "Okay, I know they mean well,
but I know they also don't understand that on the backside
on my side, I'm going through so many phone calls
with my doctor and showing her my workout protocols
and making sure everything I'm doing is safe
for my pregnancy."
- Absolutely and who else would want to protect your baby
more than you?
(laughs) I mean it's, yeah.
So, all right.
Well, I'm interested to know kinda,
I'm assuming that you did change your exercise routine
a little bit pre-pregnancy and after,
so I'm interested to know just out of sheer curiosity
for me, what you were doing prior to pregnancy
and how you changed that with the help of your doctor
in pregnancy.
- Yes, so outside of pregnancy,
especially after my daughter,
I felt like my entire workout regimen had a goal to it.
So it was constantly trying to like get better,
get back to that, like healthy pre-baby weight
make sure like my abdomen was back.
I had a little bit of that diastasis recti,
so had to work on getting that fit, like not fixed,
but healed, just trying to get my strength back
that I felt I had lost while pregnant.
And so during those workouts
it was always trying to push myself,
trying to go past what I did the day before,
trying to get my heart rate a little higher,
lift a little heavier weight, run a little longer.
It was always trying to kind of push that boundary.
And then with Drew's pregnancy,
and then with this one, as soon as I get pregnant,
I kind of rein it back in.
So instead of working out with a goal to get better,
I work out with the goal of just maintaining
and staying active and healthy and just fit.
So whatever I did yesterday, I'm not trying to beat it.
I'm just trying to kind of stay right there,
if that makes sense.
(laughs)
- Yeah, that makes sense
and it's actually really good advice for anybody who comes
into pregnancy with a pretty decent workout routine already.
You know, the biggest things are,
we want you staying hydrated,
we want you listening to your body.
If your body says you need to alter what you're doing
somehow or make some kind of difference in your routine,
then you should do that.
And we want you taking note of your weight and making sure
that you're not losing weight or that you're kinda staying
on track with your calorie intake goals and stuff like that.
So I think those are really good, you know
information for people who are watching this who are
more just the average exerciser like me,
and want to know like what I should do in pregnancy.
How do you feel like being an elite athlete changed
how you approached pregnancy
or you approach exercise in pregnancy?
- I think with my first pregnancy,
it made me very obsessive.
So I saw it like a competition almost of what's my new diet?
What's my new workout regimen?
What's my like, goal that I'm going for?
And it kinda just became a game,
in a good way and I really enjoyed it.
So I would read up on diastasis recti and I would read
up on core workouts and workouts that could potentially help
with delivery and just anything like that.
So it was definitely like a training regimen
kinda like I was back at the Olympic days,
this pregnancy now having a toddler,
it's kinda just try to work out and stay sane
at the same time.
I worked out at 6:00 AM this morning.
'Cause it was the only time I had.
And again, your goals just change.
And as the former athlete,
I know that I feel better, especially pregnant.
I feel better working out.
I feel healthier.
I feel like I have more energy.
My body doesn't ache as much.
So I have that goal each day of getting something in.
But I try, I don't have time to obsess anymore.
- Yeah, toddlers definitely take that away from you
in a lot of aspects.
You brought up diastasis recti and for my audience,
who's watching, diastasis recti is where
the abdominal muscles kind of move apart in the front.
And this is a normal occurrence in pregnancy.
It's something that has to happen to give space
for the baby to grow.
But what happens is after baby comes out, it takes some time
for those to go back where they need to be.
And in some people it never goes back where it needs to be,
most people it does, but it does take time.
And you're exactly right, that there are exercises
that you can do to help with that after delivery.
And if people have persistent problems
then they should come in and chat with us about it
so we can check it out.
But I usually encourage people to give at a minimum 40 weeks
because that's how long it took to get there
before you plan for your body
to get close to back where it is.
So just be kind to yourself and let that happen naturally.
Anything else you wanna add?
Any questions you have for me about exercise
in pregnancy or anything you want the audience to know?
- I would just say it is funny
that we're talking about this.
'Cause I literally had an old teammate of mine from like,
back in elementary school and high school
text me the other day, she's pregnant and she has an OB,
who's very old school
and not to raise her heart rate over 140,
make sure she doesn't lift weight,
make sure she rests as much without a high-risk pregnancy.
I would just say like
what causes people to go that route?
And what are the go to's
of what you're allowed to do and not allowed to do?
- I think a lot of this comes from exactly what you said,
kinda old school subscriptions to things
we used to tell people without really a lot of basis.
Pregnancy used to be viewed as like a very delicate state
where anything you did,
sneezing wrong could cause major problems.
And the more we've researched this, the more we figured
out your body shockingly was made to do this.
And you have a lot of reserve to protect the baby.
And it's okay for the most part to continue doing
whatever you're comfortable doing, with some few exceptions.
Obviously I would never tell someone to go against
what their doctor's telling them, but I do know
of those recommendations and they are not things that I
choose to tell my patients just based
on the scientific evidence
that we have about the massive benefits
to regular exercise during pregnancy.
- I think the other question I had is, I feel like something
that I get a lot from people, is what,
and I know this is,
I feel like I would know the answer, but like,
how do you know when it's too much or too much weight?
Can you lift weight?
Can you run a marathon?
Can you, you know?
- Yeah.
So the answer for some people is going to be,
yes, you can do it and for some people it's going to be no.
And I think I've said this probably a hundred times
in this video, before I got to here to talk to you.
And also probably several times since we started talking,
but you have to listen to your body.
Of course there are things we shouldn't do while pregnant.
I mean, I probably, if I were your doctor would be like,
"No, we probably shouldn't be doing
like long tumbling routines, where you have a change
in your center of gravity and you could fall."
But at the same time,
if you're super comfortable doing a handstand
because you don't fall doing handstands,
it's probably safe for you.
Most of my patients probably shouldn't be
doing handstands though, right?
So like these recommendations change based on the individual
and that's so important.
But if someone's just watching and trying to figure out,
you know, "What's okay for me?"
What I tell my patients is anything you were doing prior
to pregnancy that doesn't cause you pain now,
is probably safe to continue.
- And then one more question.
I had this really weird thing, during my first pregnancy,
where I swear it was, when did the walking thing start?
Like second trimester, mid second trimester?
Yeah, but I like even walking, my belly would cramp so hard
that it was painful.
And I literally couldn't go for a walk,
but I could go lift a weight,
or I could do like a high intensity workout
but I could not go for a walk.
- Yeah, I mean, that sounds like probably some Braxton Hicks
contractions and the idea most people have in their head
is Braxton Hicks contractions aren't real
and they can't hurt, but it's not really true.
They can, the only difference between Braxton Hicks
and regular contraction is your cervix doesn't change
with a fake or Braxton Hicks contractions.
So that's what that sounds like,
why it happened with walking and not other things?
I don't know that I can tell you the answer to that,
but you really touched on the important thing there is,
I figured out things I could do that didn't cause that
and allowed me to continue working out like I wanted to.
- I remember I would get so frustrated 'cause I was like,
"I just want to go for a walk," (laughs)
and my belly would just start--
- Yeah and it's pretty common.
Like Braxton Hicks when you are walking, especially
kinda longer distance walking, it's pretty common.
So I'm glad you brought it up
because I think there's probably a lot of people
who have experienced that and wondered what it was.
All right, well, that is all.
I am so happy you were here,
and I'm so happy to make this video
and raise some awareness about exercise in pregnancy
'cause it's something I see unfortunately addressed
in very bad ways, online all the time.
If you ever get mean comments,
feel free to send them my way (laughs)
because I will stand by you. (laughs)
- I will.
- You wanna tell my audience real fast
where they can find you?
- Oh yes.
You can find me on YouTube at The East Fam or on Instagram,
under @shawnjohnson.
- Thank you Shawn for being here today,
I am so thrilled to chat with my audience
about exercise in pregnancy.
And if you wanna hear more about Shawn's experience,
with COVID and pregnancy and her audience's questions
for me, you can hop on over to their channel
and watch our video over there.
Thanks for being here today y'all.
If you're new and you wanna subscribe,
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